The Essex in CHAP. V. perished of hunger.* The Duke of Parma now came to the support of the League, with a considerable body of Flemish veterans; and in the same year a Spanish army also Spaniards landed in Brittany, which duchy Philip II. claimed as Brittany. the inheritance of his daughter, the representative of her mother Elizabeth, of France. Hitherto the English Queen had been loth to aid Henry, because, now that the defeat of the Armada had firmly established her throne, she looked upon the continuance of a civil war in France, as beneficial to England. But the landing of the Spaniards in Brittany alarmed her; she sent money and ammunition to Henry; and 3,000 troops, under Sir John Norris, were at once despatched to keep the Spaniards in check. In the following August (1591), the Earl of Essex landed at Dieppe with 3,600 men, 300 of whom were gentlemen volunteers. Henry was then engaged in reducing Noyon, Pierre-fonts, and other towns in Champagne; but the united forces presently laid siege to Rouen, and blockaded it during the winter. The English suffered severely from the inclemency of the weather, and the skirmishes with the enemy; and Essex lost his only brother, Walter Devereux, who was slain by a musket ball. On the return of spring, the siege was raised at the approach of the Duke of Parma, and Essex returned to England by order of the Queen. In the following year (1593) Henry, to secure peace to his throne, publicly embraced the Catholic faith, and though Elizabeth loudly charged him with perfidy and duplicity, policy demanded that she should secure his friendship; and an alliance, offensive and defensive, Melun. against Spain, was concluded between them at Melun (1593). Treaty of 56. The last expedition of Drake and Hawkins to the Spanish Main. The King of France soon had cause to repent the conclusion of this treaty. The Spaniards invaded Champagne, and threatened Burgundy; they overran Picardy, captured Douliens and Cambray, and in April, 1596, they took Calais. In vain Henry called on Elizabeth for aid; this last conquest, however, alarmed her; and her alarm was further increased by the failure of an expedition which she had sent to the West Indies in the previous year, under Drake and Hawkins. Great hopes had been entertained of this new expedition, because it was the largest which had ever been sent from England across the Atlantic, consisting of 30 ships and 2,500 men, The adventurers proposed to capture Nombre de Dios, march to Panama, and there seize the * Browning's Hist. of the Huguenots, ch. 45. 1596 Hawkins treasures from Peru. But repeated attacks had at length taught the Spaniards to stand on their defence; the expedition, which should have been despatched immediately it was planned, was delayed by the threatened Spanish invasion; and the Plate fleet, therefore, arrived in safety, while the colonies were timely forewarned. Wherever the English landed they were bravely repulsed; they were driven off from Porto Rico, where Hawkins, grieved at the ruined prospects of the enterprise, died of Death of a broken heart, it is said (November 12th, 1595), and on and Drake. the same evening Drake had a narrow escape from a cannon ball, which carried the stool from under him, as he sat at supper, and killed two of his chief officers. The capture of Panama was found to be impracticable, and although Nombre de Dios and several other towns were burnt, these unexpected disasters, together with fatigue and the rigours of the climate, carried off Drake also (January 28th, 1596), and the survivors returned without glory, and without plunder even to repay the expenses of the expedition.* 57. Essex's expedition to Spain: Capture of Cadiz. A second armament was now fitted out for the purpose of attacking the Spanish coast, and destroying the preparations which the Spaniards had made for a second invasion of England. It consisted of 150 sail, 22 of which were Dutch vessels, carrying 14,000 troops, 1,500 of whom were gentlemen volunteers. Howard, the lord admiral, commanded the fleet, and Essex the troops; the former was assisted by Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh, and the latter by Sir Francis Vere, Sir George Carew, and Sir Coniers Clifford. On the 1st of June, the expedition left Plymouth harbour, and, at the end of three weeks, cast anchor at the mouth of the haven of Cadiz, in which they discovered fifteen men-of-war and forty merchantmen. At seven the next morning (June 21st), they entered the harbour in defiance of the fires from the forts and batteries, and, after a fierce fight, which lasted six hours, captured two of the largest ships; the galleys escaped, and the merchantmen, having made off during the action, were burnt by the Spaniards. Essex then landed 3,000 men at Puntal, and next day forced the city to capitulate. The inhabitants paid a ransom of 120,000 crowns for their lives; their houses, merchandise, and property were plundered by the conquerors, and the whole loss of the enemy on this occasion was estimated at twenty million dollars. Essex now proposed to march into Andalusia, and when this was rejected, offered to remain at Cadiz and the Isle de Leon, and retain their conquest. * Southey's Lives, III., 223-238. CHAP. V. But he was again overruled; dissension prevailed amongst the leaders, and, after two unimportant descents on the Spanish coasts, the fleet returned to Plymouth about ten weeks after its departure. Never before had the Spanish monarch received so severe a blow. The defences of Cadiz were the strongest in his dominions, and they had been razed to the ground; the secret of his weakness at home was revealed to the world at the same time that the power of England was raised in the eyes of Europe; for the invaders had found the country drained of its disciplined forces, the nobles discontented at their exclusion from the offices of government, and the people disposed to join them. The moderation and humanity of English conquerors were also displayed; no blood was wantonly spilt; the convents and monasteries were respected, and the laws of religion and morality were faithfully observed.* 58. The factions of Essex and the Cecils. Elizabeth received the conquerors with coolness and displeasure, because they had divided the plunder amongst themselves, instead of bringing it into her treasury. The Cecils also had taken advantage of the absence of Essex to undermine his credit with the Queen. They made light of the capture of Cadiz, and Sir Walter Raleigh intrigued against him, and claimed to himself the chief merit of the expedition. A fortunate accident now came to the earl's relief. He had proposed that, instead of returning home, the fleet should sail to Terceira and intercept the Spanish Plate fleet, which had 20,000,000 dollars on board. But the Cecils, he said, had thwarted and overruled him, and now the fleet had arrived safely in port. The Queen's indignation was instantly turned against his adversaries; every man hastened to seek his reconciliation, and even Burleigh himself, who had formerly suggested to Elizabeth that the ransom paid by the inhabitants of Cadiz belonged to the crown, now supported Essex in opposition to the Queen's claim. This apostacy of the treasurer threw the Queen into such a rage, that she called him to his face "a miscreant and. a coward," and drove him for a time from the court. Essex was somewhat overproud and confident on the victory he had thus gained; but, as he was of too chivalrous a spirit to entertain a lasting hatred towards his adversaries, he consented to a regular treaty of peace and amity with the Cecils, through the mediation of Sir Walter Raleigh. But directly after, he quarrelled with the Queen for promoting his personal enemy, Lord Cobham, to the office of warden of the Cinque Ports, when he had petitioned her * Lingard, VIII., 326. 1597-8 to grant it to Sir Robert Sidney. He left the court, and was preparing to retire to his estates in Wales, when the Queen sent for him, and, to pacify him, made him master of the ordnance. 59. Essex's "island voyage." An end was put to these courtly broils, by the news received from Spain, of the preparations which Philip was still making for the invasion of England. This new project was altogether visionary; the Spanish sovereign was urged upon it by Allen, Persons, and the Jesuits; and the great object of it was, to place Philip's daughter, who claimed descent from John of Ghent, upon the throne of England. To prepare the way for the succession of this princess, Persons revised Doleman's and edited the celebrated tract, entitled "A conference tract. about the next succession to the crown of England in 1593, by R. Doleman." This book, which was the production of several pens, had been published in 1595, and was dedicated to the Earl of Essex. The first part of it, which undertook to prove that, as the right of succession is regulated, not by divine, but by positive laws, which vary with circumstances, the profession of a false religion is a bar against propinquity of blood, was republished in 1648, to show the power of parliaments to proceed against their king for misgovernment, and was afterwards (1680) made use of against the succession of the Duke of York. The second part enumerated those persons who could claim, by their descent, a right to the throne after the death of Elizabeth, and especially dwelt upon the pretensions of the Spanish princess. The publication of this tract excited extraordinary sensation both in England and on the continent, and the English cabinet resolved to anticipate Philip's invasion by destroying his ships in their harbours, and intercepting his homeward-bound Plate fleet. 140 ships and 8,000 soldiers were therefore assembled at Plymouth, and placed under the command of Essex, with Lord Thomas Howard and Sir Walter Raleigh for his seconds. Several noblemen joined as volunteers, one of whom was the Earl of Southampton, one of the royal favourites, the grandson of the lord chancellor Wriothesley, whom Henry VIII. made one of his son's executors, and the grandfather of that heroic woman, the wife of Lord William Russell, who was executed in Charles II.'s reign. expedition sailed in July, 1597, and was immediately driven back by a storm. After remaining wind-bound for a month, it made sail for the Azores. Fayal, Graciosa, and Flores were captured; and three galleons returning from the Havannah, worth £100,000 sterling, were also taken. But the Plate fleet escaped. The expedition was considered as a failure; jealousy and dissension had thwarted all the efforts of the commanders, and Essex, sullen and discontented, retired to his house at Wanstead. The Queen again pacified him by appointing him hereditary Earl Marshal of England (January, 1598). The 66 CHAP. V. He 60. Elizabeth's famous quarrel with Essex. The King of Spain, however, had now had sufficient proof of the prowess of English seamen, and he made repeated overtures for peace. concluded a treaty with France in May, directly after Henry IV. had published the celebrated Edict of Nantes, granting full toleration to the Huguenots; he therefore thought that Elizabeth would follow her ally's example. But while the Cecil faction strongly urged his suit, Essex and his party vehemently advocated war; and the dispute between them was so violent, that Burleigh told Essex he thought of nothing but blood and slaughter; and putting the Book of Psalms into the earl's hand, pointed to the words, Blood-thirsty men shall not live out half their days." The court was thus again disturbed by the quarrels of these two factions, and the selection of a lord deputy for Ireland, which was then in a state of insurrection, tended to embitter them. This post was attended with the greatest difficulty and danger; and being no longer an enviable office, each party tried to obtain the appointment of one whom it desired to remove from court. The Cecils proposed Sir William Knollys, the earl's uncle; Essex, Sir George Carew. The Queen sided with the former, and used some sarcastic language, to which the earl replied by turning his back upon her with an expression of contempt. The Queen revenged this outrage after her own manner, by boxing his ears, and bidding him "Go and be hanged." This retort so inflamed the earl that he instantly grasped his sword, swore a great oath that he would not have taken such an insult from her father, much less from a king in petticoats, and so rushed out of the room (June, 1598). War was now openly declared between Elizabeth and her favourite; the lord keeper Egerton, the earl's sincere friend, advised him to submit and seek the Queen's forgiveness; but Essex replied by a letter full of that eloquence and manly sentiment, of which few other public characters in that age appear to have been capable.* At the end of four months, however, he returned to court, and appeared as if again in favour; but Elizabeth never forgave him, and the earl's downward course to ruin began. 61. Death of Lord Burleigh: his character. In the midst of these domestic quarrels, the Queen lost the most able and most trusty of her servants, Lord Burleigh (August 4th, 1598). He was in his seventy-eighth year, and had mainly directed the councils of Elizabeth for forty years. She called him "her spirit;" he was the oracle that she consulted on every emergency, * Aikin's Memoirs, II., 403. |